Hey there! I wanted to take a few moments and just share with you five of the biggest misconceptions about a successful business and being a successful entrepreneur.
The first one I want to share with you is actually one of the ones that I find most amusing. And it’s this misconception that entrepreneurs get to work from their bunny slippers. I have heard it so many times of people that are in jobs and they want to start their own business. And they’re like “I just want to work in my bunny slippers. I want to be in my robe. I don’t want to have to get dressed to go to work.” And the interesting thing is that how you show up is how you do everything. And the days that I, and many of my colleagues and other people that I’ve worked with, the days that we show up in our yoga pants and our bunny slippers – while technically, yes, we can do that – to do that on a regular basis you have low energy, you’re not as productive you’re not as effective. So yes, while you have the ability and the flexibility to not have to dress for work, what I do find is that, even though I work from home, I’ve got my home office here in a corner room of our home. It’s like 20 steps to the the family room into the kitchen, and even though it’s that close, I still get dressed for work. Because when I show up and I feel my best, I can give my best. And that’s where success comes from.
The second misconception is that entrepreneurs have flexible hours and they just have to check on a few things a couple hours here and there, and that’s all they have to do. Not the case! And if you’re listening, in you’re probably chuckling to yourself right now. A lot of times it’s the opposite. With a job, when you work 9:00 to 5:00, many people close up, leave it at work and you go home. As an entrepreneur, because a lot of times we work from our home office, our home and our family and our business are intertwined. So it really takes diligent discipline to create boundaries. I like to set my office hours so myself and my family – especially when my stepkids were home, and they were going to school and living with us – I like to set boundaries, so that I and my family, my friends, and my colleagues and co-workers, they know when I’m working. They know when I start, they know when I finish. And I honor those boundaries, so that worked is work time and family time is family time.
The third misconception is: just because I am great at coaching or doing whatever you do, means I’ll also have a great thriving business doing that same thing. And being a coach, being a great coach is one thing; being a thriving business owner it’s a very different mindset. As a coach, when you put on the head of the coach, you are focusing on doing the work of the coach. And working with your clients and supporting and serving them – now that’s phenomenal! It’s your passion, it’s what you’re enthusiastic about. And you must also put on the hat of the business owner, so that you can think like a business owner. Creating that well-oiled machine called a business, that’s going to help you find leads, convert them to prospects, engage them into being paying clients. There is a process and a structure to follow. And “the business owner you” is going to set that structure up and then consistently work that process, and work that structure. So you want to think like a coach, and think like a business owner. Both must be appropriate and show up equally.
The fourth misconception that I want to share with you is that it’s hard to do marketing. A lot of times I hear coaches say “I hate marketing!” The interesting thing that I find when I have a conversation with people is that you actually don’t hate marketing. You see, there’s just four simple steps. Because, really, marketing is just generating awareness. Now, there’s a lot of different ways you can do marketing, but it’s just generating awareness for the the problem that your ideal client faces. Or the problem that your coaching helps to resolve. So when you can generate awareness, when you can share your story and share your message with people, you’re generating awareness. And then, that leads into people, you capture leads for people who are interested in a solution to that problem. And then, the third step is that you guide them in a specific process to making a purchase decision. And then, finally you allow them to take action and buy. And that’s all that marketing is. You have to be clear in who you want to serve, what the problems are that they’re facing and the solutions that they’re looking for, and then you have to know how to communicate that a lot of times. When people say “I hate marketing”, they don’t actually hate marketing. They love talking about their passion, they’re just not sure who they want to serve or how to convey that message. Two very different things. Once you know that, I promise you, you’re gonna love marketing. Because really, marketing is just great coaching.
Now, the fifth misconception that I want to share with you is: entrepreneurs have to do everything themselves. It’s my business, it’s up to me, I’ve got to do it all myself. And this is a limiting belief that a lot of entrepreneurs have; it’s a villain that takes over pretty quickly, because it helps us to keep playing small – it’s the ego keeping us safe. And the truth is that when you know your zone of genius, and you can delegate the other necessary skill sets (because remember, when you’re thinking as a business owner there’s other things that you have to do in order to find those clients, get those clients, work with them and get paid by them; there’s a lot of stuff that happens behind the scenes). So when you can delegate some of those tasks, they actually – those that are proficient in those admin skills, or the systems and the processes, or the technologies behind your business, when they’re proficient – they get things done quicker and faster, with better results. So that frees up your time, you’re paying minimal for them to do their zone of genius, you’re getting better results, you’re focusing on doing what you love. So don’t fall into the mind trap of entrepreneurs have to do everything themselves. That only leads to burnout and resentment of your passion and your talent, and that’s not what we want. Because the world needs your work more than ever.
So keep in mind these five misconceptions and make sure that you turn them around in your business, so that you can bring all of you to your business, give all of you to your marketing, generating that awareness, capturing those leads, converting them and working with them. Like I said, the world needs your work now more than ever, and we don’t have time for you two to get held back by these misconceptions. So let’s break through those, get you fully out there, and doing the work you’re meant to do.
I love supporting you! I’m so proud of you! You’re doing great! Keep going!
…and the two questions that were my most powerful takeaways from this Thought Leader Business Summit…
Hey there! We have just finished the Thought Leader Business Summit. I’ve been here with fifty of the industry’s leading thought leaders, highly successful coaches and entrepreneurs. And I wanted to share some of the takeaways and tips and best practices that we talked about from day two and three. We were so jam-packed for the past two days it’s hard to keep track of it all, but here’s the highlights that I want to make sure you have for your business.
We spent a lot of time talking about the criteria for referral partners. A lot of times we see in businesses that people are just like: “give me a referral, any referral, and anybody that wants to pass me a referral.” That’s great and that can be a great place to start. And as you evolve, it becomes very important to pay attention to what type of referral partner is going to send you, not only a good quantity of leads and referrals and new clients, but good quality as well. So really pay attention to what kind of referral partner is the ideal referral partner for yourself.
Another thing that we talked about – and we spent quite a bit of time of this on day two – was making sure that you take time to acknowledge what got you here. Especially as coaches we spend so much of our time with our clients looking forward, and what’s the next goal, what’s the next desire, where’s the nex t transformation, that we forget to take stock of what got us here. We wentaround the room and there was over 50 different elements that people listed. And when you can do this in a group like in a mastermind, or a group coaching setting, or within a circle of trusted colleagues and confidants, you will have ideas that maybe something that got your colleague to where they are right now, maybe you haven’t tried that yet. And it can be a source of inspiration for new strategies to grow and expand your business. But take time to acknowledge where you are and what got you here.
Another trend that we talked about was that the market, the buyers, people looking for transformation in their lives, they’re yearning for a deeper, more personal connection. So how can you usedifferent tools and resources at your fingertips to create more personal contact, communication and interraction. We talked a lot about using Facebook Messenger and different chat tools to create that know-like and trust factor as you’re building the relationships, that might be something that you could integrate into your business as well.
And then we spent a large amount of time – I’ve got my notes here because I don’t want to miss a tip or a best practice – but we spent a lot of time on looking at your sales team. Now you might be sitting there saying: “Melinda I’m just getting started. I don’t have a sales team.” I totally get it! You are the sales team. So whether you’re the only sales team, or you have one or two people or a whole team helping you, spend time every week to look at your sales team. What is working, what’s not, what do you need to do differently. Take stock with where you are right now and get a baseline for how you are converting prospects into paying clients, and then identify steps that you can improve and enhance along the way to increase your efficiency. This was a big eye-opener for me.
We have a sales team, but we have coaches that help us with our clients to make the next right decision for them coming into our programs. And we don’t spend as much time consciously looking at how can we better support our community, and making those decisions for themselves.
Then we spent a lot of time mixing business with pleasure – you know that’s one of the values that I have; how can you mix business and pleasure. The first night we got dressed up as if we were going to the Oscars, and we had dinner on a private yacht going around the San Diego Bay. It was so much fun to connect with our colleagues in that way, and just have a fun evening together. Andthen the second night we had a little pijamma party. So people are in their yoga outfits, and they’re in sweatpants, and just some comfortable clothes. And we go to this place together, and we’reall piled into a living room. And a Mentalist comes and we just have an extraordinary mind-blowing event! Think of the movie “Now you see me” – I think that’s the name of it, yeah. And this guy was in that movie, and in the second movie – he was a consultant for it – and it was incredible how our minds blown! And the message that he gave to us is: “with your clients, don’t only give them what they expect, but go beyond what they expect, surprise and delight and dazzle them beyond what they’re expecting from you. That’s where powerful referral partners are created, that’s where raving fans are created.”
Then we had day three. I want to share a couple quick tips before I head out. I got ahead to the airport to head back home to Virginia. But one of the things that we talked about in the morning of day three was something called “entrepreneurial burnout”. Are you experiencing this? And the key characteristic that we identified, that leads to entrepreneurial burnout – and this is when you start resenting you passion, and feeling guilty about the gifts, and not loving what you’re doing. And that is… it’s when you’re doing it all. Right? When you are doing everything! And it’s important to really pay attention to where can you leverage your superpowers and your gifts, and where can you get other resources. And that might mean to create more efficiency in your back end; it might mean add more automation to some of your funnels; it might mean bring on a virtual assistant or some other team members to help you. But as you grow, you must be conscious of your entrepreneurial burnout, or it will get the best of you, and you won’t be successful. And that’s not what we want.
And then we spent the afternoon talking about leveraging stages to get in front of your audience. This is one of my favorite topics! I’m brand new at speaking on stages. We’ve been virtual for 14 years, and I just love being in front of large groups of our people that are struggling with the same challenges, and want the same results. And how can I support them in their journey? And so we spent a lot of time. So how can you leverage sales, whether it’s in your local area, at associations, whether it’s at a regional area, at conferences, maybe a national level, public speaking, maybe your own events that you’re doing? Or like this, on Facebook live. Like where are your stages, so you can be seen and be heard? The world needs your voice, the world needs your presence, the world needs your gifts. Get yourself out there!
And then we wrapped up with my two favorite questions of the entire event: who do you need to become for your dreams to be a reality? And the first question that we asked ourselves was: what do I need to let go of that’s keeping me playing small, maybe keeping me stuck, maybe keeping me in a story that’s no longer serving me? What do I need to let go of? And we all really contemplate it and meditated on that for a while.
And then the second question was: what do I need to take on? What skills, what mindsets, what perspectives do I need to take on to support me in my journey? Make sure you’re asking yourself those two questions as you continue on your journey.
Here’s to your success! Make sure you’re mixing business with pleasure. And post below what are some of the things that you need to let go of? What are the saint’s some of the things that you need to take on to become the next greatest version of the next grandest vision that you can have for yourself? I can’t wait to hear about it!
Melinda: Hey there! Oh my gosh, we’re here at the Thought Leader Business Summit. We’ve been spending three days together, and I’ve got my friend Michelle Scheibnell here.
Michelle: Hello!
Melinda: And we come together several times a year to mastermind our business, and we have been having a lot of fun. And one of the things that I’ve shared with you is a resource that this amazing gal has put together. If you are interested in group coaching, maybe you’re just getting started and you want an easy way to leverage your business right out of the gate, maybe you’ve hit a plateau and you want to grow to the next level. Group coaching is a way that you can expand your business model. So I thought, while we were here – we don’t have much time because we’re getting ready to start our session – but I thought: you want to give us a quick tip well?
Michelle: Yeah, what I what I definitely want you to do is be sure to download the free ebook that Malinda post the link to right here, below us. A lot of times people ask
me like “how big should my group be?”, “how long should it run for?”, “how should I price it?” And the fact is there a variety of different group coaching models that can work for you and your business. The key is really identifying what are your goals and objectives when it comes to groups, and then figuring out the right group option for you. So definitely go ahead and download the ebook, because I’ll walk you through the three most proven and profitable group coaching models, and then you can see which one will be the best one for you to choose to get started with groups.
And that’s actually just part of a hold free training series I have. So I hope you take advantage of all of it, because I am on a mission to help more coaches help more people, and make more money in less time by coaching groups. So love to be able to serve you and share more group coaching resources with you!
Melinda: Awesome! Thank You Michelle! So click that link below; you’ll see the link in in this post. And it’s a free download.
She also has a video training that she’ll go a little deeper into some juicy nuggets, and some of her greatest tips that she has in there. So if you’ve been struggling, or you kind of have that “I
don’t know what to do about groups”, here’s your chance! Go grab it, get it now (she’s got an upcoming training for it as well), and have a lot of fun with it!
We’re here to serve you and support you to your outrageous success. Let’s have a lot of fun!
All right, bye bye!
Hey there! I just wanted to pop in real quick. I’m actually at “The Thought Leader Business Summit”. It’s one of the masterminds that I attend. You guys know me – you never leave home with a mastermind – and this is one that I’ve been coming to, I think, for about the past seven years.
Every April, about 50 of us thought leaders in the industry come together to look at the industry, to look at our businesses, to brainstorm for hotseat coaching, to challenge each other, to celebrate, just all of that stuff. And it just started today. So I wanted to give you the top four takeaways from the 50 successful entrepreneurs that have been in this room. And the entrepreneurs in this room, they range anywhere from… you have to have at least a million dollar business to be in the room. Some of them go up to multi millions. One guy that we heard from today started with
his company when it was $1,000,000 and has grown it to a hundred million dollars. And I want to share a tip from him.
The first thing that we started with today is “what are you playing this game for?” We continuously ask ourselves that on a regular basis. And we’re always asking ourselves “how can I, while I’m doing the work that I love, and getting paid generously to do so, how can I increase the quality of my life?” Always check in with your “why”. It’s your beacon. The “why” for creating the impact, the “why”… maybe your “why” is time freedom, maybe it’s money freedom, maybe it’s to create a legacy, maybe it’s just to play a bigger game – whatever your “why” is for doing what you’re doing, make sure you know how to articulate it and always ask yourself “why am I playing this game, and how can I increase my quality of life while I do it?”
So that’s how we kicked the day off to get us in the mindset, and then we heard from a global leader, Sean Stephenson, a dear friend of mine. And he shared and he spoke on the “human connection formula”. And he talked to us about really paying attention whether you’re speaking at events to your clients, whether you work with your clients one on one, whether you do it on the phone, or inperson, or webinars, or online, or however you connect with your clients and contacts, and make sure that you are paying attention to creating the human connection. Our world has been saturated by technology and getting impersonal and detached. And now this trend is moving, how can you create that human connection?
And I just want to share three notes that I took from what he shared. How can you unify the people that you like, your community, your tribe? How can you unify them? How can you give them permission to go, for it for however you’re serving and supporting them? And then, how can you also create rapport and build that know-like trust factor? As you do that, you’re able to create – in
creating that know-like and trust factor – you’re able to serve and support them in bigger ways, to help them get the results that they’re looking for.
And then we heard from Reed Tracy, another dear friend. He and I are actually in another Master Mind together. He’s the CEO of “Hay House”, the biggest publishing company in our industry. And he shared with us his journey from taking the company from 1 million dollars to a hundred million dollars. And there was so much in his presentation, but one of the Nuggets that he said was so important that you have to pay attention to, as you’re building your business, growing your business and scaling your business – and I don’t care if you want to take your business to 100 million, maybe you want to go to 10 million, maybe you want to go to 1 million, maybe you’d like to go to a hundred thousand, heck maybe you’d like to hit 50 thousand – whatever that is for you, the thing that he shared that really stood out was: create a container for your time and be very mindful of it. Be very conscious of how you spend your time, what you include in your time, be very diligent in that and you’ll map your success much faster than if you just kind of leave it up to chance.
And then the last thing: I got to be in a panel. I was so excited I got to be on a panel with myself and two other colleagues of mine and good friends, Lisa Charney, and Marisa Murgatroyd. And the three of us talked about creating great client experiences. And there’s three things that you have to pay attention to.
What we called the “stick rate”: like as soon as somebody says “yes” to working with you. That moment that they say “yes” is when everything just begins for you. And in that moment that you want them to stick as a client. So what can you pay attention to as soon as they say “yes”, what can you do in the first hour after them saying “yes” to really get them engaged in creating momentum, and having a lot of fun, and validating their decision, that they just invested in themselves? Once you have them stick as a client, then you want to pay attention, and put all of your attention and resources on making sure they get the results that they want, and working with you. And you have to pay attention to whether you work with somebody just one time, and that’s it whether you have a … maybe it’s just you spend the day with them, maybe you have a coaching program and you work together for six weeks or six months, or maybe it’s a year-long program that you offer, whatever it is – how can you pay attention to the entire client journey to ensure and provide structure and fun, to make sure they’re getting quick wins, consistent wins throughout the whole experience?
And then the final thing is retention: how do you retain your clients, because it costs a lot more money to get new clients than it does to keep the old ones. And so, what can you do to create
retention and keep people engaged? And one of the things that we do in our business is: we create anticipation. We like to, whenever we’re offering something to our clients, rather than just giving them the template, or the module, or the lesson, or the training, we like to, in advance, create a little anticipation, tease them a little bit to build up the excitement for what we’re about to deliver. And creating that anticipation, they’re always looking forward to the “what’s next”. And in the “what’s next” – that’s when they stay longer to look forward to what’s coming. So how can you pay attention to the stick, how can you pay attention to creating results with your clients, and how can you pay attention to retaining them and engaging them over the long haul?
So that’s just a little bit from our day today. We’re actually have a quick break, and then we’re heading out to a surprise. I have no idea what it is, but we were just told to dress up like you’re going to the Oscars,. And we’re gonna have dinner together, and that’s one of the things that I love about these masterminds. Is that while there’s a lot of learning that happens in the room, it’s all of the connections that happen at lunch, in the lounge, at dinner, in between, going to the airport – that’s where a lot of amazing ideas begin to happen. And so make sure that whenever you’re going to masterminds, whenever you’re going to networking events, whether they’re local in your community or big events once a year, make sure that not only are you at the event itself, but the in-between times where a lot of the magic happens.
I got to go get ready. I’m gonna find out what this surprises. I’ll fill you in tomorrow with some more tips and what happened tonight.
Hey there! I’m actually here in Laguna Beach – you can kind of see the cove there, there’s some of the houses behind me – and I just wanted to share a quick little tip about how you can create and balance business and pleasure. It’s one of my favorite things to do.
You see, I’m out here for a mastermind – you all know that about me; there’s something you never leave home without, a mastermind – and so I’m here with about 50 colleagues over the next several days and we’re gonna be brainstorming on our business, talking about visions, and trends, and innovations, and doing hotseat coaching, and working on our challenges, and really helping to create and evolve our own businesses.
And I flew out here a day early, I’ve been whale watching, and over the last several hours I’ve gone out with six of my colleagues who are also good friends and we’ve been out there and we’ve been watching whales, we’ve seen a couple whales, we saw some sea lions and a bunch of dolphins, and this is how we have spent our day, so that we can fill ourselves up. We can connect, create relationships and bond, and so I had to tack on an extra day and it’s totally worth it.
I’ve done that before, you know. It’s been four months, I was in Park City, did the same thing. Then when on the Africa trip, did the same thing there. I’m now here in Laguna Beach, and I continue to mix business and pleasure just to create an extraordinary business, and an extraordinary life.
So how are you combining business and pleasure to create the business beyond your wildest dreams, and live the life beyond your wildest dreams? Type that below. I want to hear your secret tips too!
